JeanMcKinnon

Blue Damselfly Romance

E-420

Aperture f/5.6 ISO 100 Shutter 1/200 Focal Length 150/1

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May, 2015

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+19

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Beautifully taken. The colour of the Damselfly along with the blue background make this image all fit together perfect. A wonderful composition. Paul.

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Behind The Lens

Location

The Orokonui Ecosanctuary, near Dunedin, NZ. This was near the "eel pond".

Time

This was taken around lunchtime (12 noon), it was a lovely warm, bright summers day and there were many damselflies around the pond (both Blue and Red).

Lighting

I used natural lighting, it was very bright and the sun was high in the sky so few shadows and as it was so bright everything, was in high contrast and the insects had a mettalic glow.

Equipment

Fairly basic actually, I used my old Olympus e420 and the 18-50 kit lens, nothing else (unless you count the rock I leaned on!) I try to be pretty low tech, I want my pictures to be good because I took a good picture not my camera, I have been known to use only my point and shoot.

Inspiration

As I work at the sanctuary I'd seen the damselflies many times, and I just loved the colour against the blue/brown of the pond and the green of the grass, and I like a challenge, these insects are almost always on the move!

Editing

I generally try not to, however this picture was cropped to make the insects the centre of the frame and thus the photo.

In my camera bag

I always have my Canon 600D, 18-55, 55-250 (yep, kit lenses), macro EF-S 60mm (not kit), Canon wireless remote RC-6, spare 32G SD card, dessicant (as a marine biologist I'm often in the damp!), Olympus Tough TG4, gorilla pod, lens tissues, cables, notebook, pen, LED torch. This is in my daily bag! In my field bag I have all of the above, plus 3 more point and shoots (real cheap ones!) Kaiser starlights, 2 more torches, batteries, binoccs, lens cleaning kit, light meter, spare lens cap, monopod, tiny tripod (good for on rocks etc) and tripod and MORE dessicant!

Feedback

Patience is key. Take the time to visit your chosen site many times and in all lights and be prepared to sit still and silently for a long time, take many photos. I have my camera set on multishot for this type of thing. This shot took me weeks of trying. I think I took about 100 photos to get that one shot. Know your subject, much animal behaviour is seasonal or only occurs with certain environmental cues such as, moon, tide, temperature. These for example breed late spring to mid summer. Above all have fun! If you are too serious it shows in the picture, they become stilted and lose something in the translation. I still get excited when that one picture works, even although I've filled my card to get it!

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JeanMcKinnon

JeanMcKinnon

Blue Damselfly Romance

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow JeanMcKinnon

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